Notes for Mary L. KISTLER
At the beginning of the Civil War, Mr. Strode was postmaster in Royal Center, Indiana. He enlisted in Company F, 20th Indiana Volunteers Infantry and served during the war. Mrs. Strode was commissioned as Postmistress after her husbands enlistment and while he was at the front, she not only cared for her children and home but also performed the arduous routine work of the postal service.
The Union sympathizers had almost unanimously entered the army and departed for one of the numerous battle lines, leaving at least the masculine sentiment of the community decidedly "secesh" as the term ran in those days. Naturally the post office and it's mistress, as representative of the federal government, were continually regarded with hatred, although no active display of the prevailing spirit was given until after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Early in the morning following the murder of the president, a dispatch arrived from Washington, D.C., asking that the office be kept closed from 8:00am until 3:30pm, that crepe be displayed at the door, and that the flag be placed at half mast on the building. Although her life was threatened repeatedly and many
attempts were made to break down the door of the office, Mrs. Strode, unaided save by her ten year old son, Byron, carried out the governments requirements.
No recognition was afforded her patriotism and heroism at that time, but in 1902 during a state reunion of the D.A.R. the story of her deed was repeated, and she was acclaimed as a second Barbara Freitchia. As a token of their admiration the patriotic people of Kansas presented her with a magnificent silver tea service and a mahogany table shaped like a clover leaf as this design was the Army Corps badge of her husband.
| HOME | EMAIL | SURNAMES |
Page built by
Gedpage Version 2.20 ©2000 on 11 August 2007